About the Session:
Consistent with the conference theme, the proposed session focuses on the Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) platform developed by the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC) for assessing and managing lakes and other bodies of standing water for sustainable use of their life-supporting ecosystem services. ILBM focuses on achieving sustainable management of natural and manmade lakes through gradual, continuous, and holistic improvement of lake governance, including sustained efforts for integration of institutional responsibilities, policy directions, stakeholder participation, scientific and traditional knowledge, technological responsibilities, and funding prospects and constraints. Achieving this goal requires accurate knowledge and information regarding a lake, its basin, and its resources, including the status of its governance structure and associated management activities. ILEC previously developed guidelines for obtaining this information in the form of so-called Lake Briefs. The Lake Briefs are structured to obtain not only the essential scientific/technical information, but also the scope of lake resource uses, the impediments to these uses, and the structural and non-structural responses for addressing them, including the range of socioeconomic, political, and cultural realities to be addressed to achieve their integrated management over the long term.